Music to their ears.. Prince Charles adds another patronage

The National Arts Centre Orchestra will have Prince Charles as its Royal patron for one of its tours for the first time.

For the first time ever, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra will have a Royal patron for a leg of its tour. The Prince of Wales will be the patron of the NACO when they tour England in October 2014.

Prince Charles is certainly an ardent supporter of the arts. If one was to scan the list of over 400 of the organisations he is patron of, the recurring theme is that of the arts in many forms.

King George II was the first member of the British Royal Family to offer his name to an organisation. His first ‘patronage’ was the Society of Antiquaries.

Lending his name to the NACO tour, Charles is scheduled to attend some of the events NACO will hold. The details of the said events are still being scheduled, according to the Ottawa Citizen. 2014 is also the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I and Canada’s role in the dreadful battles.

“I welcome the announcement that the National Arts Centre Orchestra will be embarking on a U.K. tour next year to commemorate the Centenary of the First World War, as well as to celebrate the deep and longstanding ties between Canada and the U.K.” Prime Minster Stephen Harper commented in the media release for the announcement.

NACO is led by Pinchas Zukerman who is also the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra principal guest conductor. Five concerts and approximately 24 outreach and educational activities are being planned to commemorate the anniversary of World War I and to celebrate “the long ties linking Canada and the United Kingdom.”

“Through this next international tour, Maestro Pinchas Zukerman and the musicians of the NAC Orchestra will communicate the strong cultural ties between Canada and Great Britain, and a very important chapter in our history,” according to President and CEO of the NAC, Peter Herrndorf.

The idea is for an official concert in London, according to Herrndorf. “Then part of the hope is to take the orchestra to one or two of the cities on the plain in tribute as a thank you to those cities,” he concluded.

Plans and further details are still being decided and will be known in the coming months.